One way for doctors, anesthesiologists, nurses, pharmacists, and the like (referred to hereinafter as “healthcare workers”) to store, transport and dispense medications to their patients is through the use of a medication storage device (e.g., a mobile medication dispensing cart, a medication cabinet, a nurse server, etc.). In particular, a healthcare worker may have his or her own medication storage device, which stores various medications and/or items or devices used for dispensing or delivering those medications (e.g., syringes, gloves, etc.) throughout a given workday. An example of such a medication storage device may be an anesthesiology cart used by an anesthesiologist for storing all of the medications and dispensing/delivery equipment needed for the procedures (e.g., surgeries) in which he or she is going to participate within a given period of time (e.g., one workday).
In many instances medication storage devices may include controlled substances including, for example, one of various types of narcotics. Given the significant risk involved in association with an unauthorized person obtaining access to these controlled substances, it is very important that adequate security be provided for the medication storage device. In order to provide this security, at least two types of locks associated with the overall medication storage device have been used, each of which having its own set of drawbacks. The first type of lock that is often used is a manual lock that requires the use of a physical key to unlock. One drawback of this technique is that it forces the healthcare worker to carry around the physical key, which can be easily misplaced or stolen. In order to avoid carrying the key and, therefore, potentially losing it, the healthcare worker may be tempted to leave the key in the manual lock on the storage device. This significantly reduces, if not completely abolishes, the security affects of having a lock, thus providing a second drawback to the manual lock.
The second type of lock used by many medication storage devices is an automatic lock, wherein the healthcare worker operating the medication storage device may define a specific period of time after which the storage device will automatically lock. Once locked, the healthcare worker will be forced to manually unlock the storage device again if he or she still needs access to the medications and/or dispensing/delivery items stored in the medication storage device. While this technique eliminates the need for the healthcare worker to carry, and potentially misplace, a physical key, use of an automatic lock has drawbacks of its own. For example, no automatic lock setting appears to satisfy all of the needs of the healthcare worker. In particular, while one procedure, for which the healthcare worker is dispensing medications from the medication storage device, may last only a short period of time (e.g., one hour), another procedure may last significantly longer (e.g., over ten hours). Setting the automatic lock to lock after a short period of time may disrupt longer procedures, while setting the automatic lock to lock after a longer period of time to accommodate those procedures may greatly reduce the security provided by the automatic lock. In addition, healthcare workers that know that the medication storage device will automatically lock after a certain period of time may become dependent upon this functionality and, therefore, even less likely to manually lock the storage device themselves.
In addition to the foregoing, because emergency situations may occur at any moment, the idea of having any lock, whether manual or automatic, on a medication storage device that may prevent the healthcare worker from immediately accessing the needed medications stored within the medication storage device can be unnerving. One solution to this problem has been to have no security at all in relation to the medication storage device. Given the hazards described above with regard to unauthorized access to the controlled substances stored within the medication storage device, this option is less than ideal. A need, therefore, exists for a technique for securing a medication storage device (e.g., mobile medication dispensing cart, medication cabinet, nurse server, etc.) that addresses these, and similar, drawbacks.
Another related issue regarding the dispensing of medications to patients results from the lack of time many healthcare workers have between procedures or cases. In particular, as a result of the extremely quick turnaround time between operating room cases, which can be as little as 12 minutes, anesthesia providers and other healthcare workers often have to draw up or prepare medications for their next case prior to the completion of the current case. In many instances, once the medications (referred to hereinafter as the “next case medications”) have been drawn up, they are placed on the top of the anesthesia provider's work surface (e.g., on a mobile medication dispensing cart). As noted above, however, in many instances these medications include controlled substances that should be secured whenever possible. In addition, placing the next case medications on the work surface on which the current case's medications have likely also been placed creates the potential for the medications to be mixed up or confused. A further need, therefore, exists for a technique for ensuring that next case medications are secure and not likely to be confused with the medications of a current case, but that still supports the need to prepare medications in advance.